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Pop Stop

Jay Chou got his claws out this week and Jolin Tsai was on the receiving end. PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES

The competition between Jolin Tsai (蔡依林) and Jay Chou (周杰倫) heated up this week with the Mando-pop king claiming that Tsai's record company is over-stating sales of her recently released Agent J (特務J) to, well, increase sales. The two alleged ex-lovers have been battling it out for years over which is Taiwan's top pop star.

The Chairman (周董), in a thinly veiled attempt to drum up publicity for his own album On the Run (我很忙), which goes on release today, told the media last week that he would be honest about his record sales.

Predictably, Tsai stood her ground and told the press that hard work rather than overblown figures is boosting sales. Pop Stop thinks that Chou should take a chill pill; his enemy isn't so much Tsai as the thousands of fans who will inevitably download his new album for free. Curiously, this is the second time that the pair have released albums almost simultaneously. Perhaps the two are in cahoots.

Speaking of chill pills, Chang Hui-mei (張惠妹), has reportedly kicked the habit. The singer better known as A-mei (阿妹) began taking medicine back in 2000 to fight stage fright - a phobia she developed after a break-up. Next reported that she no longer pops and instead gets a haircut to maintain her sanity, which could be a lesson to all those celebrities that have been caught having a puff, doing lines or popping pills.

Rosamund Kwan has been knocked off her perch by a 24-year-old. PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES

Rosamund Kwan (關之琳) may need a trim after her advertising contract with a local construction company was canceled. Next reported that the 45 year-old Mando-pop star, who apparently has a penchant for Hello Kitty and was once the face of construction sites and beauty products throughout Asia, was knocked off her pedestal by a 24-year-old relatively unknown model. The construction company's stated reason is that Kwan's fees of NT$10 million are too expensive, whereas the model is charging a measly NT$500,000. Tongue waggers have suggested the real reason for Kwan's demise is that the construction company's chairman wants some fresh flesh. Still, Kwan can console herself with her planned Christmas date with Taiwan's Casanova Terry Gou (郭台銘).

Chthonic (閃靈) has just departed on a 45-day European tour. The death metal band is reportedly getting a whopping NT$400,000 to appear at England's Hard Rock Hell festival. The Liberty Times, the Taipei Times' sister paper, reports that band members have been practicing their English and shopping for a new wardrobe more suited to the English weather.

Finally, the ongoing saga of crybaby Aska Yang (楊宗緯) continues.

Pop Stop is now chomping on a slice of humble pie. Back in June we predicted that the One Million Stars (超級星光大道) competitor's light would fade within a few months - what with him lying about his age and ongoing contract disputes - but the Liberty Times reported that Yang is back on the "reality" show.

It turns out that the contract dispute between Yang and the Napoleonic showbiz entrepreneur Hsu An-chin (許安進) has been resolved, which paves the way for an album to be released early next year. Oddly, the dispute was in part resolved by the intervention of the Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation (婦女救援基金會). In exchange, Yang, who allegedly has a penchant for young ladies, promised to be a spokesperson for the foundation.

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